On the plane ride to Colorado Springs I suddenly realized that I had spent the last several hours chatting to my patient friends (yes Charles, Ruth Ann, and Sadie…you know what that is like) about Rogue this and Rogue that… blah, blah, blah… Was I nervous? Excited? Anxious? I suppose so. I couldn’t focus on my run. All I could think about was the reactions of my coach and my friends if I screwed up. What if I made Rogue look bad? What if my friends (the non-running ones) made this long trek for me only to see me do something completely stupid like break a leg or something?? Who would pay my bills if I did break a leg? Geez! It was mind boggling! Maybe it was menopause!! No luck there… it was just my overly wound tight brain spinning out of control!
Thank God for our beautiful Rogue Kelley, for I met up with her at the Peak Buster’s dinner and had a wonderful time. The ladies were so awesome. One of them is 83 years old and once ran all the way across the USA, running 30 miles a day, 6 days a week, for 113 days. Ok, maybe Pikes Peak wasn’t so bad after all… As I sat listening to different stories, I looked around the room at all of the lovely faces of women of all ages. I left the meeting with a feeling of focus and vigor. Kind of a “girl power” kind of a feeling!
The walk up the W’s the next day was fairly uneventful and I tried to convince myself that I should at least run some of it. I would have too, had it not been for Abe’s stern “Where are you going?” and “You aren’t planning on running are YOU?” Ok, I just walked the damn thing. Rest…possibly the hardest thing for me to do.
The beginning of the Ascent the next day was hard. I watched my fellow Rogues head out and I wanted to go. I was anxious… for them, for me, for the weather… As they all came back in I was dying to hear their stories… and so proud of Amy for yet another 1st Texas woman up the mountain this year! I listened to the accounts of their journeys and vowed that I would get to sleep at a decent hour that night. I was fairly wired again although vaguely aware that there were happy tourists everywhere. There was a motorcycle rally happening in town as well. One of the bikers was heard talking about the jogging rally going on. Indeed…
Marathon morning. I am definitely anxious. Steve asks if I am cold and tells me to go in my room. Ok. Later he sees me again. He asks if I am still cold and then quietly tells this wimpy 47 year old that it is OK. Ok, I will believe him I guess. Then we are all on our way.
I head out with Mark Lindsey, Sadie, and Charles… these are my runnin’ buddies that I know will help me pace on the mountain. I know hard core Mark has just completed UltraMan Canada 5 days before… I am not concerned when I move in front of him. I am encouraged that my other 2 buddies are hanging with me and I move up the W’s concentrating on my breathing and often chit chatting with the “natives” just to make sure I am pacing myself. “Hi! I’m from Texas. I’m a Rogue. Beautiful! It is just beautiful here!! Where ya from? Have you done this before?” My usual barrage of verbal diarrhea. I am sure it caused some to drop back just so they didn’t have to listen! Sadie and Charles are still with me but I am the front runner…not a good thing.
So I chat up some cute Colorado dude named Dan and decide to hang with him since he is a pro at going up the mountain in 4 hours. Thanks to Dan I followed him through little spells of nausea and dizziness as we kept moving up to and through tree line. I was worried about Steve. Where was he? Where was Charles? Why did I pass Sebastian? Where was everybody? I wanted to see my friends. I got intimidated by the light headedness that I felt every time I stopped to let a down hill runner pass. I just kept thinking about my last time on the mountain during hell week. I thought about this mountain’s rugged strength and I concentrated on being connected to “her soul.” Soon the Rogues started coming down and I felt much better.
Nelan passed me just as I got to the top and I saw my friends Hil, Serg, and Claire’s husband Russ with the big ol’ Texas flag. I felt so good seeing them. What good friends. There they stood in the cold waiting for all of us to come by. Then I saw Kelley, who was so excited to see me that she took a swan dive off her rock perch! Oh poor Kelley! Then Hil is handing me a new hand held and tells me to take my damn cycling gloves because I am gonna fall. (She must be psychic or something!!)
I head down. I wanna run. I am worried about burning out my quads…I don’t know what that is like… worry, worry… Then I bust my butt for the first time as I try to go around sad uphillers on the wet rocks. Apologetic hands reach out and pull me up, push me on my way. Cool. Then I start seeing all my buddies. Rogues are all over the mountain. All of them cheer for me… even those that are having a rough day. I am empowered by their friendship and I hope I can pass on some strength to those who are hurting. I know they will all make it. I see it in their eyes. I am happy.
I make a conservative trek nearly to Barr Camp. There I pick up my next pacer. Local Colorado girl Karen… she has done this 8 times before… she aims for a 6:30. Sounds good to me. I am not brave enough to run my own race. I follow on her heels like a lost puppy. She is awesome and never breaks from her steady pace. I thank her and tell her I would never hurt this much if it weren’t for her. I get all brave at the 2 miles to go marker and bid her goodbye. Time to run home.
Last switchback. I turn to thank the volunteers as I pass some guy. Next thing I know I am skidding down the trail on my cycling gloves and my elbow. This totally ticked me off so I jumped up and passed that guy and the one in front of him just for good measure. Thank God I didn’t tear my new shirt. I think I would have had a fit!
I got to the road… ouch, ouch, ouch. I am trying to push my toes down into the bottom of my shoes because it feels like my toenails are coming off. My arm and knee are now bleeding… cool… I feel like some Rugby player or something as I pass the bewildered onlookers at the Cog Station. Suddenly, I am alone again. The road is empty. No runners, no spectators, no one. Then I see a Rogue poster on a cone! So I gas it a little and a runner comes into view. Then another poster… another runner. I am dismayed to see that it looks like the road turns to go uphill. Luckily, this is an optical illusion and as I get close enough to realize this I can hear cheering.
Around the corner I can see and hear my friends calling my name. All the Rogues are lined up on the sidewalk and street. They are cheering me in. I think I even slowed down for a moment…it was so nice to bask in the limelight with my group. As I turned to the finish, I actually thought to look at the clock. It had just turned to 6:21. I wasn’t about to let it go any farther so I high tailed it to the finish…knowing that a group of great friends (and eventually several cold beers) were waiting for me to show up.
Pike's 2006 
